This gig in Toulouse was some kind of miracle…well, a weird kind of evil miracle of course, regarding at the headliner tonight. And if this gig was a miracle, it's because it was originally planned at the Havana Café, which was sold and destroyed just few days before. Luckily, the promoter quickly reacted and re-organized it in the beautiful venue of "Le Bikini" (itself destroyed some years ago by a chemical explosion…) and here I was, in the afternoon, ready to interview Fernando Ribeiro from Moonspell, on the nice terrace with swimming pool, on this sunny Sunday…

But I'm here to make a live report right?

The first band to open the night was Dead Shape Figure, a nice Finnish band that I didn't know about before their show. And believe me, I'll remember it! I rarely saw an opening band with such an energetic and powerful performance. They gave us a pure half an hour of strong metal, blending an aggressive and quite hardcore singing with some thrashy riffs, fast but very groovy. The band seemed to really enjoy playing here, and the singer didn't hesitate to jump on the photo pit to be the closest to the audience, enhancing the impression of power and communion. The musicians made some little mistakes but nothing important really. They did a very good job and definitely deserve attention.

To stay on the Finnish side of the force, the second band was Turisas, which was there to bring their folk and powerful metal to an audience apparently very happy to welcome them. Those Viking from the north made the temperature got hotter and hotter, with their picturesque music, delivered with faith and good mood. The crowd was invited to separate itself in two parts, not in order to make a wall of death, but to do a nice and motivating competition of chorus. It was fun, typical, and the musicians did a quite good performance. The atmosphere was really positive, with the paroxysm during the cover of "Rasputin", that showed that metalheads are good singers AND dancers.

After this two opening bands, it was time to welcome the two headliners. Moonspell maybe was the most awaited band tonight. At the moment as they came on stage, they instantly changed the atmosphere of the venue, imposing their strong and deep personality. The four Portuguese, lead by the frontman Fernando Ribeiro, definitely have something special, as classy as strong. The set list covered a nice part of their discography, and effectively mixed the blackest with the more calm songs, always with the same intensity and presence. The big screen in the back of the scene was here to diffuse some images and videos, strengthening the dark and gothic vibes of the band (like during the great "Scorpion Flower", the duo with a virtual Anneke van giersbergen). The show was a very interesting blend of simplicity and deepness, class and creeping violence supported by the evident charisma of Fernando and his musicians. The time was frozen and left the bewitched crowd hungry for more. Well, at least it was my case.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, it was time to welcome the black stars of the night: Cradle Of Filth. It was the first time that I was seeing them live, and I have to say that I wasn't a big fan of the band before. Not even a small one. And, well, I won't be after tonight neither. But let's explain why. I'm just not able to take this kind of music seriously while listening to it. And when I see it live, it becoming more impossible. Dani Filth is an excellent show man, and the musicians were quite convincing, but the performance stayed at an entertaining level to me, quite funny and burlesque most of the time, but unfortunately easily boring or irritating some other times. Like I said, I'm just might not be the good person to get the deepness of their music, to be thrilled by its dramatic and blackness sides. On the other hand, I really believe that there is a lot of conscious humour in all that. The disguised blacksmith Cerbere making sparks on the back, the huge evil puppet surveying the scene and more generally the way to move, act and scream (oh my god, those screams!!) of Dani were finally giving a very interesting atmosphere of…ironical darkness. If it was the only purpose of the show, they definitely know what they're talking about.